He flung it in her face and as she staggered back with a cry, grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her viciously. ‘Ten seconds, that’s all I’m going to give you. Garvald was here, wasn’t he?’

She cracked wide open, terror in her eyes, arms up before her face to block the blow she expected to follow. ‘Don’t hit me for God’s sake. I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!’

Nick stood back and waited and after a moment or two, the words came tumbling out. ‘He came in this evening, about nine o’clock. He didn’t sign the book because I forgot to ask him to.’

‘Did he go out?’

‘Not as far as I know. He was in at one o’clock when the men came for him.’

‘Who were they?’ She hesitated and he took a quick step towards her, his voice grating. ‘I said who were they?’

‘One of them was a bloke I met at a party a few weeks ago. A Greek or a Cypriot or something. They called him Jango. I don’t know who the other was. He had a wall eye, that’s all I can tell you.’

‘Max Donner,’ Lazer put in quickly. ‘He and Jango are a couple of heavies. Manton keeps them around to handle the rough stuff.’

Nick nodded and turned back to the girl. ‘So they gave you twenty quid. What for?’

‘I had to take Mr Garvald a cup of tea. Jango put something in it. Knock-out drops I suppose. I think they were afraid of him.’

‘And it worked?’

She nodded. ‘They took him away in a car. I don’t know where to.’

Nick turned to Lazer and the American shrugged. ‘Maybe the Flamingo?’

‘I shouldn’t think it’s very likely,’ Nick said. ‘But we can try.’

They turned to the door and the Irish girl grabbed his sleeve. ‘I didn’t mean any harm. They said they were friends of his, that they were just playing a joke on him.’

‘Do I look as if I came over on a banana boat?’ Nick tapped her gently on the side of the face with his open hand. ‘You’ve got twenty quid and there’s a boat train leaving for Liverpool around 6 a.m. Be on it.’

He turned and walked out leaving her standing in the middle of the room. She stood there gazing at the open doorway for a while, a dazed expression on her face, then got down on her hands and knees wearily and started to pick up the money.

There was plenty of activity outside the Flamingo, mainly cars driving away, and Nick stood in a doorway opposite the Mini-Cooper and smoked a cigarette as he waited for Chuck Lazer.